Drew Smyly roughed up, Matt Tuiasosopo hits third home run in four days in 12-10 loss to Nationals

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Left-hander Drew Smyly got off to an excellent start this spring in his attempt to win the job as the fifth starter for the Detroit Tigers. Since then, he has slowed down a bit.

Smyly allowed five runs -- four of them in the fourth inning -- on Sunday afternoon as the Detroit Tigers suffered a 12-10 loss to the Washington Nationals.

The Tigers fell behind 7-1 before rallying for six runs in the sixth inning to tie the game. They took a 9-8 lead in the seventh on a two-run home run by Matt Tuisasosopo -- his third home run in four days -- before the Nationals rallied for the victory.

Smyly pitched effectively in the first three innings, but he wasn't in the mood to look at the bright side after he was hit hard in the fourth.

"It pretty much defined the outing," Smyly said of the fourth inning. "It doesn't matter what
you did the first few innings if you explode in the fourth."

After surrendering a run in the second inning, Smyly struck out four of the next five batters he faced, capping that streak off with a strikeout of Bryce Harper to end the third inning.

But Smyly struggled after that. Tyler Moore led off the fourth inning with a home run to give the Nationals a 2-1 lead, and Ian Desmond followed with a double off the wall in the gap in left-center. Smyly then walked Kurt Suzuki on four pitches, which brought pitching coach Jeff Jones to the mound.

Smyly retired the next batter on a fly to left, but Chris Marrero blooped a single into shallow right field to score Desmond from second and make it 3-1. Suzuki scored on a groundout to third to up Washington's lead to 4-1. Danny Espinosa followed with a single to left to make it 5-1.

Smyly said most of the damage in the fifth came on offspeed pitches he left up in the zone.

"I felt fine the whole outing," he said. "In the fourth inning, they hit some balls that I left up."

Smyly allowed just three hits in nine shutout innings in his first three
Grapefruit League appearances this spring, but he has allowed seven
runs -- six earned -- in 7 1/3 innings in his two starts since. He still has a very
respectable 3.31 ERA for the spring.

Rick Porcello has a 2.50 ERA in 18 innings pitched this spring. Both have pitched well overall, but Porcello seemed to hold a slight advantage heading into the season. With all things being equal -- and it's worth noting that they rarely are -- the Tigers seem more likely to go with Porcello in the rotation with Smyly coming out of the bullpen.GAME NOTES-- Torii Hunter slammed a pitch from Nationals starter Ross Detwiler for a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning. The ball hit by Hunter cleared the wall and the grass berm down the line in left field and landed on the concrete that sits beyond the berm.

-- Kurt Suzuki doubled off the wall in left-center field with one out in the second inning, then scored when Chad Tracy, the next batter, singled up the middle. That tied the score at 1-1.

-- Moore hit home runs in consecutive innings. After hitting one off Smyly in the fourth, he had one off relief pitcher Duane Below in the fifth to make it 7-1. Below has had a rough spring. He has allowed 11 earned runs in eight innings pitched thus far.-- The Tigers roughed up ex-Tigers pitcher Ryan Perry. He pitched a 1-2-3 fifth inning but was charged for five runs on two hits and two walks in the sixth inning. Perry, who also hit a batter with a pitch, did not record an out in the sixth inning before he was removed from the game.

-- Prince Fielder had a bases-loaded single in the sixth to drive in two runs. Victor Martinez followed with a two-run double to close the gap to 7-5. The Tigers tied the game at 7-7 later in the inning on a sacrifice fly by Hernan Perez and an RBI double by Alex Avila.

-- Al Alburquerque struggled in the eighth inning for the Tigers. His line: 0.2IP, 1H, 4R, 3ER, 3BB, 2SO. The Nationals already had a run in during the eighth and had the bases loaded when Alburquerque was removed from the game. Marrero greeted Darin Downs with a two-run single to break a 9-9 tie. The Nationals tacked on another run on an error by Danny Worth, his second of the game, to make it 12-9.

-- Tuiasosopo threw out a runner at the plate in the top
of the seventh to prevent the Nationals from extending their lead.

-- Tuiasosopo doubled in the ninth inning and scored on a single by Jeff Kobernus.

-- Quintin Berry left the game early due to soreness in the same knee that forced him to miss time earlier this spring, Tigers manager Jim Leyland said after the game.